• Jo Howes, CREALOGIX at Commercial Director


• 18.06.2019 11:15 am
cryptocurrency

While many in the industry played down the significance of cryptocurrencies since the bursting of the most recent speculative bubble, we have seen several of the larger financial institutions – such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan – explore seriously how they might offer cryptocurrency services to their clients. Now tech giants are getting on board and this new mainstream deployment from Facebook will bring the conversation straight back to the top of the agenda for the financial industry.

“Facebook’s digital currency, Libra, will likely be used for peer-to-peer transactions, as well as for facilitating ecommerce. This means the tech giant can manage payments internally, rather than having to rely on payments partners as it has done in the past.

“CREALOGIX research found that digital currencies are more popular amongst younger generations with 1 in 4 under 35s having experience with digital currencies, versus just 4.5 per cent of over 45s. This illustrates the changing requirements of younger customers when it comes to their banking and payments solutions. Facebook is tapping into that interest, and Libra could have the mass adoption behind it to normalise cryptocurrency payments in daily life. We predict more general adoption happening soon in banking and payments.

“The ultimate aim for Libra will be to make moving money more convenient and cheaper for users. This serves as a further competitive challenge for mainstream financial institutions – reminding them that they need to bring digital banking and payments innovations to market rapidly if they want to keep their user base engaged.